Midnight conversations
by Rain on your Back
Summary: Conversations in the dead of the night between two archenemies... T for implications. Drabbles.
1. Chapter 1

**Name: Midnight conversations**  
><strong><span>Author:<span>** Rain  
><strong><span>Disclaimer:<span>** Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Hao, Jeanne.

* * *

><p>"Say," he whispers one day, his fingers intertwined in her hair, "if you had to choose between letting me kill blondie or yourself, who would you choose to save?"<p>

She stares, blankly.

"Him, of course."

That doesn't surprise him; he smiles smugly as he goes on: "And if it was a simple human? Someone you didn't know?"

A silence.

"It wouldn't matter. I'd still sacrifice myself."

"And Luchist?  
>- I'd still sacrifice myself," she repeats just as softly.<p>

"Now you are being stupid. He betrayed you."

Then she has a small pale smile. "Perhaps. But I still would."

He doesn't understand.

* * *

><p><p>

"You have no idea of the risks, little Jeanne. No idea of how tantalizing you are… How deep I could traumatize you if I tried."

She looks up from whatever book she's reading. He's in one of_ these moods_ again. She doesn't look phased.

"I could seduce you so very easily. Hold you, kiss you, tell you lies that you'll believe – or even just push you down on the mattress and have my way with you right now…  
>- Yes, you could."<p>

She still doesn't look scared.

"You don't care?  
>- No.<br>- Why?  
>- Because it wouldn't mean anything."<p>

He still doesn't understand.

* * *

><p><p>

"And you?"

It's later in the night and it's his turn to look up to her.

"And me?"

"If it'd be so easy to have 'your way' with me, why don't you do so?"

He stares at her for a while. Her blank expression has to be fascinating for him to spend so much time looking at her.

Then, he laughs, and a lazy hand comes to ruffle her hair as he answers:

"Either because you're not pretty as you think you are and I was only trying to scare you… Either because I have more morals than you think."

* * *

><p><strong><span>Hao:<span> **... Now she does drabbles in english again... *sighs*

**Jeanne:** ... And she's preparing Echecs and two-three chapters of her challenge. She wants us dead, I'm sure.

**Rain:** Not at all, I promise. Ugh *sick* please stop talking so loud.

**Hao&Jeanne:** ... *silence* ... I think a shouting match would do us much good. And to you even more. *begin*

**Rain: ***agony*


	2. Chapter 2

**Name :** Midnight Conversations

**Author :** Rain

**Disclaimer :** Shaman King belongs to H. Takei.

* * *

><p>"What is your idea of happiness?" He looks up from his book, surprised that she'd begin a conversation. A pause. "Now that's an interesting question, Maiden." Her gaze matches his, without so much as a blink when she realizes he is waiting.<p>

"I meant," she add in that soft voice of hers, "why would erasing humanity make you happy? It won't erase its faults. It won't erase yours, either." He lets out a small breath.

"Careful, Jeanne.  
>- Why? It's not like I have much to fear. And punishing me would be admitting that they hurt you."<p>

Hao grits his teeth.

* * *

><p>She should really know better than that by now. Both know he is irritated. "Scared?<br>- Not yet." That earns her a casual smile. He likes that in her, that stupid inflexibility.

"You should.  
>- Probably." There is amusement in her voice, and neither is sure whether it is directed to him or herself. That doesn't suit him.<p>

He walks up to her, that familiar glint in his eyes. Though, she doesn't move, even when he seizes her chin in his tanned fingers, his voice taking a humorless tone.

"Why don't you listen to me?"

And she knows 'no' isn't an option.

* * *

><p>"I offer you freedom. No more rules or responsibilities."<p>

She blinks without answering, her eyes avoiding his. That hit too close to home not to disrupt her; but she isn't about to say so.

"I offer you to end your pain. No more burdens. No more scars on your body and mind."

Her white eyelashes bat slightly. She still refuses to look at him and voice her opinion.

"I offer you oblivion."

Those are the words she dreads to hear, because she so desperately wants them to be true; because it shakes her convictions with the force of an earthquake.

* * *

><p><strong>Hao :<strong> …

**Rain :** … This is good… Though I'm probably influenced by Mirai's writing…

**Hao :** …

**Rain :** … You're ignoring me?

**Hao :** …

**Rain:** Not fair… *pouts*


	3. Chapter 3

**Name :** Midnight Conversations

**Author :** Rain

**Disclaimer :** Shaman King belongs to H. Takei.

* * *

><p>It's late and she's slowly drifting off on her couch, back resting against the hard wall. He's somewhere in the room, she knows as much, but doesn't quite care. It's way too late for that. She's quite an easy prey tonight, he knows.<p>

He sneaks up from her side, this unnerving smile on his lips as he nudges the side of her head. When she fails to give him the attention he wants, he grow angered, takes her wrist, twist it. That does the trick.

"Hao…"

It's a warning. Not quite the plea he'd love to hear. "Tell me, Jeanne…"

* * *

><p>His breath is warm against her ear, and though her mind is still foggy and distracted by the growing pain in her wrist, he knows he has her complete attention and will not lose it again. Not tonight, anyway.<p>

"What do you want, Jeanne? For me to stop? Have you considered begging yet? Like, I don't know…" His already high-pitched voice imitates her, surprisingly well. "Stop, Hao… Stop… If you loved me you'd stop..."

Her eyes finally meet his, shades of red darkening as the idea sinks in like feline teeth in her soul.

And then, it's bitter, she laughs.

* * *

><p>At first she simply thought he was mocking her, teasing her, but it appears not to be the case, and the only rational answer that comes to mind is laugh. Because it's pretty much that or breakdown, and she will <em>not<em> break for him.

"To say that I would need to believe you loved me. And then to believe that you loved me like a natural, sane person would, and that you loved me enough to sacrifice your puny pleasures _because I asked_."

He releases her wrist, as if surprised.

"So to be clear it's no." Her tone is final.

* * *

><p>"Why," he whispers, leaning in so that his cheek was against hers, hands cradling her shoulders, "always so willing to believe me, are you?" She doesn't answer that one. For a few seconds he seems to contemplate his next words. "I do love you, you know."<p>

She chuckles, absently massaging her wrist. "Not very funny tonight, mister.  
>- Really, I do," he whines. That doesn't seem to faze her, and she disengages herself from his awkward embrace.<br>"Yes, like a tiger loves its preys, a child his toy. Don't try to deceive me, Hao. You know better. _I_ know better."

* * *

><p><strong>Rain :<strong> Dunno why but I suddenly feel inspired for those drabblets…

**Hao :** … Silence of the Lambs probably helped.

**Rain :** Yeah, probably… You seem quite calm… Weird…

**Hao :**I'm just too desperate to try and bring you to something like reason, which you seem to never have possessed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Nom :** Communication is the Key

**Author :** Rain

**Disclaimer :** SK belongs to Takei...

* * *

><p>"Had we but world enough, and time,<p>

Thy coyness, Lady, were no crime."

Jeanne blinked tiredly, rose to a sitting position. What was that supposed to be now...? A voice had roused her from her slumber. . She couldn't quite place it… She listened again. Nothing. "Hao?" It had to be him. It simply couldn't be anyone else; there was no one else in there.

But her tormentor did not appear. She was alone in the room. Confused, she almost fell back down in bed. Was she starting to hear voices? Wouldn't be the strangest thing since she arrived here.

* * *

><p>When he came back the next day, she threw the apple from breakfast at his head. Of course, that didn't please him much, and her lunch turned to ashes. She didn't really mind, he wasn't a very good cook anyways. "What are you doing?"<p>

She merely chuckled, though. "I thought we had agreed to only taunt each other while awake? You breached our terms. I get to throw stuff at you. That was our agreement."

She closed her eyes, so she didn't see his reaction. The stubborn sound he made, though, gave her all the answers she could have wanted.

* * *

><p>She found a book a few days later. Andrew Marvell. Bored to death (he hadn't come around since their little fight, which was a wise move), she opened it, went through it. Then her eyes fell on two well-known lines by now. "Had we but world enough..." Curious, she read the poem. A frustrated persona tried to convince his beloved to yield to him.<p>

Was that... Really what he meant to do? To send her such an... 'invitation'? She spent the rest of the day laughing. He was smart not to show up; she would have laughed in his face.

* * *

><p>"Fine," he admitted begrudgingly. "I shouldn't have used a seventeenth-century poet to ask you to stop ignoring me. What now?" She laughed. "Stop giggling."<p>

"Not sorry. It's way too ridiculous. And desperate."

"Tell me. How am I supposed to get your attention back?"

A pause. She rolled in her bed. "Tell me that you've missed me, at least. You never said that."

"Didn't I?"

"You said plenty of things. You were disappointed that I tried to flee, then angry, then mean. You forced me to apologize, not apologizing yourself. You never said you missed me."

Simple solutions to terrifying problems.


End file.
